Good morning.
(Here’s the sign-up, if you don’t already get California Today by email.)
Today, we’re starting with an announcement from The Times’s national desk editor, Marc Lacey, and Julie Bloom, the deputy editor who runs our California coverage:
We’re thrilled to announce that the veteran Times correspondent Manny Fernandez will become the next Los Angeles bureau chief.
Manny arrives in California after a stellar run in Texas. But he is no stranger to the Golden State.
He was born in Fresno. He had a summer internship at The Fresno Bee when he was in high school. His first journalism job was at the nearby Madera Tribune. He was a summer intern at The Wall Street Journal’s L.A. bureau when he was in college at Fresno State. He had one byline that summer, a profile of Crime Scene Steam & Clean. After graduating from college, he became a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle.
“California is where my parents were born,” he noted. “It’s where I learned journalism. It’s where my college-era garage band, the Heroes, made a forgotten name for themselves. And it’s where my grandparents are buried.”
As he wrote about in The Times, his grandmother on his mother’s side helped run a boardinghouse for farmworkers in the fields of California’s San Joaquin Valley. His grandfather, a former racecar driver, moved houses in the Valley — not the contents inside but the actual homes. His wife, Michelle, is from California too.
To get a sense of Manny’s work, you can read some of his great pieces from Houston, where he arrived in 2011 and has been turning out stellar prose from across that state ever since.
He wrote a chilling 2017 piece on life and death at the border; a poignant account of a soccer coach who survived the El Paso Walmart shooting; and an unforgettable take on “What Makes Texas Texas” — even The Houston Chronicle had to give it props.
Now we can’t wait to read Manny’s dispatches from across California as he rediscovers his home state.
He’ll also be eager to hear from all of you too. So please send Manny suggestions for stories at catoday@nytimes.com.
[Read more of Manny’s work here.]
Here’s what else we’re following
We often link to sites that limit access for nonsubscribers. We appreciate your reading Times coverage, but we also encourage you to support local news if you can.
-
The Justice Department has dropped its antitrust investigation into four automakers who sided with California in a fight over emissions regulations. [The New York Times]
Read more about the fight between the Trump administration and the Golden State over pollution standards. [The New York Times]
-
The first Mass at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Newport Beach is at 7 a.m., but Kobe Bryant had come and gone before then. Hours later, his final helicopter flight would end in flames. Here’s what happened. [The New York Times]
-
“She’s a brawler. And I mean that as a compliment.” Lorena Gonzalez, the lawmaker from San Diego, likes a good fight. She’s getting one, over the labor law known as Assembly Bill 5. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]
Read more about the landmark new labor law here. [The New York Times]
-
“It certainly raises the question of, maybe I could be president.” Mayors of California cities the size of South Bend, Ind., weigh in on Pete Buttigieg’s theoretical readiness to become commander-in-chief. [The Mercury News]
-
There were plenty of reasons for Max Harris, who was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in the catastrophic Ghost Ship warehouse fire, to leave Oakland. He spoke for the first time since the trial, from Portland, Ore., where he now lives. [The San Francisco Chronicle]
-
A conservation group has boosted the reward to $7,500 for information about the killing of an endangered gray wolf in Modoc County. [Redding Record Searchlight]
-
A 209 mile-per-hour wind gust was recorded south of Lake Tahoe, potentially breaking the record and astounding forecasters monitoring a storm moving through California. [The Associated Press]
-
And the howling winds wreaked havoc in the central Sierra, causing power outages and road closures in Yosemite National Park. [The Fresno Bee]
-
Bethany Cosentino, half of the duo Best Coast, was a prototypical California indie rock star. But coming up alongside social media and navigating a music industry plagued by misogyny took a toll. Now, she’s sober and has broken her writer’s block. [The New York Times]
Also: Listen to our California Soundtrack on Spotify.
-
In 1963, a Piedmont high school science teacher decided to liven things up with a bird-calling competition. Almost six decades later, students have shrieked and squawked in front of millions of T.V. viewers. [East Bay Yesterday]
And Finally …
The 92nd Academy Awards happened on Sunday night and the winner was Bong Joon Ho.
And before you start emailing me to say I didn’t finish the sentence: No, I didn’t.
Bong, the “Parasite” director, won best director. “Parasite” also won the awards for best original screenplay, best international feature and best picture, pleasantly surprising prognosticators and making history as the first non-English-language film to take home the award.
There were other memorable moments: Joaquin Phoenix took home the best actor trophy for his role in “The Joker,” and gave a heartfelt speech that didn’t shy away from, well, anything. Renée Zellweger won best actress for her performance in “Judy” and also gave a very earnest speech. Laura Dern and Brad Pitt won best supporting actress and actor, and somehow it was the first time either of them had picked up an acting Oscar.
Eminem performed “Lose Yourself,” which surprised people. Idina Menzel reacted, so that’s where that meme you’ll be seeing today came from.
Looks were served, as usual, on the Red Carpet. (See them here.)
Mostly, though, it was Bong’s night. As the South Korean auteur declared from the stage more than once, he was happy about the recognition for cinema flourishing outside the United States. And he was ready to drink. Cheers.
California Today goes live at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for California Today here.
Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, graduated from U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter, @jillcowan.
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.
Thanks for reading Meet Our New Los Angeles Bureau Chief - The New York Times. Please share...!
0 Comment for "Meet Our New Los Angeles Bureau Chief - The New York Times"